Handlingon a cutlass

[FreakingGomer]

I was wondering if there is any way to make my cutlass take the twisties better, the back end of my car just seems to not like staying behind the front when I am playing in the hills. It does alright in corners if I do not have any braking force, but if I have to slow down while entering or during a corner the back end comes around, I was just curious what kind of things you guys have done, to help the handling of your cars.

[HokemBokem]

Do you have rear sway bars? I dont and have heard if I put one on my Regal it will handle much better.

[loominaz34]

I know people install strut tower braces to stiffen up that end of the suspension somwehat. also, people put in the FE3 swaybar which is huge compared with the others.

 

The STB will effectively stiffen up the end of the suspension you put it on, ending up in less traction on that end. So a front STB would help with your oversteer problem.

[loominaz34]

The stiffer he makes the rear end of the car, the more it's going to slide around. He needs a softer rear suspension to keep traction better there.

 

The reasoning behind this goes : If you hit a bump, the suspension has to react or the tire loses contact. if the suspension is too stiff, it's harder for the suspension to respond fully and contact is partially lost for a very short time, causing one end to slide a little but not totally spinning out.

[TeeJay3800]

Replacing the factory or OEM struts with a performance oriented strut like KYB GR-2's will dramatically improve handling. I drove my car in CA all summer on twisty mountain roads. After replacing the stockers with the GR-2's, it felt like a different car! A STB is also a good and cost-effective way to improve handling.

[GnatGoSplat]

I did:

1. 34mm front sway bar (replaced 30mm).

2. Addco 7/8" (about 22mm) rear sway bar (replaced 11mm).

3. Suspension Techniques front springs.

4. Flex-A-Form rear spring.

5. KYB struts

6. 245/45ZR18 tires.

 

Night and day difference. Incredibly flat in turns and corners.

If I had to say what made the most difference, I'd say Addco rear sway bar, springs, and tires. The rear sway bar was almost dangerous before I upgraded to the stickier tires though. It allows the car to oversteer, and the ass end would fly out during fast corners with my old 16" General tires. No problems at all with my Michelin Sport 18" tires.

[FreakingGomer]

struts are on my to-do list once I get some more cash, but would front and rear stb help out my handling?

 

I had a 1995 Saturn SL2 with f/r STB, lowered 1.75 inches, and I could take the roads about 15-20 mph faster than I can with my cutlass, (I know part of it is just the size of the car, I was a lot more willing to take risks withthe saturn, because it was a small car, super easy to regain control)

 

So, for the time being if I wanted improvements my list should go

1) f/r stb's

2) struts

3) swaybar

?

 

I typed this post while gnatgosplat typed his lol, so if I do swaybars, better tires should follow very close behind? but the combo of tires and swaybars was the best change in performance?

[SigEpCutlass]

i personally think the thing you will see the most improvement from initially is replacing your struts. That's what I'm doing when I get home for break!

[GnatGoSplat]

Struts didn't seem to improve my cornering ability, but did stiffen up the ride.

 

Yes, the rear sway bar made a big difference, although a little scary with stock tires. It also made the rear end harsher and when I hit a bump, there's a loud thunk that others have said is due to the sway bar. I definitely recommend getting stickier tires if you do the rear sway bar. The front sway bar didn't seem to make that much difference that I could feel.

 

I don't really think the STB makes that much difference.

 

I'd say it's either springs and/or 18" tires that made the biggest difference. I did them both at the same time so it's hard to say which did the most. The front of my car is REAL stiff now though. I can't hardly bounce the front end of my car at all. There's only 1" of clearance between the tire and the fender, yet the tire has never contacted the fender!

[FreakingGomer]

I already have the massive thunk sound when I go over a bump coming from the rear end, I thought it was because I was bottoming out, adn that is another question I had, if I get new struts like the ones meentioned above, would my car stop making the thunk noise everytime i hit those bumps in the road? (the big bumps like are in the neighborhoods?)

[GutlessSupreme]

Sounds you're hearing are most likely from bad struts, so I'd say yea, replacing them would fix it.

[93CutlassSupreme]

Sounds you're hearing are most likely from bad struts, so I'd say yea, replacing them would fix it.

 

shot monoleafs are loud as hell too

[TeeJay3800]

Struts didn't seem to improve my cornering ability, but did stiffen up the ride.

Struts make a huge difference if the road surface is less than perfect. They are very important in keeping the tires in good contact with the road. Back when I had my original struts, if I hit a bump in the middle of a decent turn at 55 MPH, the back end would step out because the shot-to-hell struts weren't able to keep the rear tires down against the pavement (suspension moved up over the bump, but would not go back down quick enough). As soon as I put the KYB's on, hitting the same bump in the same turn was a total non-event. I know this example shows the difference between good and bad struts, and not necessarily the difference between normal and performance struts.

 

Also, since KYB's are much stiffer, they seemed to reduce body roll in turns as well.